HIS AIM IS TRUE; FROM `DEAD POETS' THROUGH `GATTACA,' HAWKE STRIVES FOR INTELLIGENT CHOICES.

Byline: Bob Strauss Daily News Film Writer

If it isn't worth thinking about, it's not worth doing.

That could be Ethan Hawke's motto. Unlike many movie stars in their mid-20s, Hawke is clearly drawn to work with substance rather than pictures that just enlarge his professional profile.

Not that he needs any help with that. From ``Dead Poets Society'' to ``Alive'' to ``Reality Bites'' and ``Before Sunrise,'' Hawke has registered a string of memorable performances marked by intelligence and sensitivity.

``It's very difficult to do these kinds of interviews if I think the movie is a pile of garbage,'' Hawke says in a soft, open voice. ``So I try to choose work that is oriented around ideas. That makes it more fun for me.

``You see, if you're going to be famous, you have to be very careful to not be embarrassed about what you're famous for. Otherwise, it creates a huge sense of fraudulence.''

Ironically, fraudulence is the subject of Hawke's latest film, ``Gattaca.'' Opening today, it's a science-fiction movie that's concerned with ideas, not aliens, and therefore perfectly in tune with Hawke's sensibility.

``Gattaca'' is set in a near-future when genetic engineering is the norm. People born the old-fashioned, natural way are at a disadvantage in a world overrun with perfect physical and mental specimens.

Hawke plays one of these supposed defectives, Vincent Freeman. His desire to become an astronaut for the Gattaca Corp. drives Vincent to assume the identity of Jerome Morrow (Jude Law), a perfectly constructed person whose bright future was snuffed out by a paralyzing accident.

``I've been an off-and-on-again fan of science fiction, but always the more speculative, Ray Bradbury stuff,'' says Hawke, a voracious reader since childhood. ``This whole movie was built around a thesis that was very thought-provoking.

``Oftentimes, science and technology begin affecting lives before we as citizens have the knowledge and ability to understand their implications,'' he explains. ``The obvious example was the dropping of the nuclear bomb before most people even knew what nuclear energy was about. I think that the same is true of genetic engineering. I don't believe that we have any real notion of how our community works regarding the value of people with so-called disabilities.

``Of course, it would be nice if everyone could see. On the other hand, the contributions that blind members of our society have given, alternate perspectives and the things that we can learn from each other - when you start to annihilate those things out, I don't know that we understand what the effects of that would be.''

An admirable stance, theoretically. But Hawke is a see-it-from-all-sides kind of guy. He realizes that the temptation to ensure every advantage for your children is a powerful one.

``My aspiration would be that I wouldn't want to genetically engineer my kids, but it would be a tricky choice for anybody,'' he acknowledges. ``Parents have this burning desire to make their kids' lives as good as they can. I would just hope that, no matter what kind of child I had, I would love them for who they were and encourage them to do that. I'll just make sure my woman has good, strong teeth!''

Uma Thurman has nice teeth. But that wasn't why Hawke fell in love with his ``Gattaca'' co-star.

``It was a thrill,'' he admits. ``Uma's been working about as long as I have - I think she made `Dangerous Liaisons' the same year that I made `Dead Poets Society' - and she's the most disciplined young actor I've worked with. And she's got a ferocious mind, which I really enjoy.

``Obviously, she's a very impressive woman. But you don't really notice how beautiful she is at first. The real deal is that she's got a lot going on - she's an interesting person to be around.''

And Ethan Hawke has met a wide variety of interesting people. Born in Texas in the early 1970s, Hawke's parents divorced when he was 3. With his mother, Leslie, Hawke moved frequently through several states. She remarried when Ethan was 10, and they settled into an arts-loving family in Princeton, N.J.

``When you change schools a lot, you start to read a lot, and you gain this ability to see different kinds of people and get interested in them - and to see different sides of yourself through their eyes,'' Hawke explains.

Hawke has been exploring his different sides since, well, ``Explorers,'' the 1985 kids' sci-fi satire that launched his film career. His big breakthrough came four years later when he played one of the earnest Dead Poets.

Based in New York, Hawke has worked regularly with a theater company he helped found, Malaparte, and has appeared in a number of filmed book adaptations: ``Dad,'' ``Rich in Love,'' ``White Fang,'' ``A Midnight Clear,'' ``Waterland.'' He also wrote a well-received novel, ``The Hottest State,'' which will soon be released in paperback.

Hawke's next film also has a literary pedigree, sort of. It's a contemporary reworking of Charles Dickens' ``Great Expectations,'' set in New York and Florida and co-starring Gwyneth Paltrow, Robert De Niro and Anne Bancroft.

``It's very strange to reinvent such classic material,'' Hawke confesses. ``Probably the most fun I had on `Great Expectations' was working with all of these people who have such different acting styles. And it was fascinating to watch different generations working. I've spent something like 90 percent of my career with my own peer group. I've always been focused on what we were up to and trying to figure what our style was, so it was really fun to be with people who had different concerns.''

Hawke recently completed ``The Newton Boys,'' the true story of four Texas brothers who were the most successful bank robbers in U.S. history. You've never heard of them because they didn't kill anybody.

``It's primarily a comedy,'' says Hawke, who co-stars in the film with Matthew McConaughey, Vincent D'Onofrio and Skeet Ulrich for his ``Before Sunrise'' director, Richard Linklater. ``They only robbed places that were insured, because they hated insurance companies. They were sort of class heroes, but they decided they didn't need to give the money to the poor because they were poor, so they gave it to themselves.''

Next up for Hawke is the film version of David Guterson's best-selling novel ``Snow Falling on Cedars.'' The racially charged murder mystery set in postwar Washington state will be directed by ``Shine's'' Scott Hicks.

Obviously, thinking carefully about what he's doing is paying off for Ethan Hawke.

``I'm very happy with my life, I have no real complaints,'' he says. ``I've been lucky enough to keep getting to work with good people and be involved with projects that I'm proud of. That's the trick.

``But it's not like the way I do it is the right way,'' Hawke allows. ``It's just that every person needs to be true to what it is that they care about. That way, you can live with yourself.''

CAPTION(S):

3 Photos

Photo: (1--Cover--Color) IDENTITY CRISIS

Ethan Hawke explores a different side of himself in `Gattaca'

(2) In ``Gattaca,'' Ethan Hawke plays a normally conceived man who plots to become an astronaut in a world where genetically engineered humans get all the breaks.

(3) `Obviously, she's a very impressive woman. But you don't really notice how beautiful she is at first. The real deal is that she's got a lot going on - she's an interesting person to be around.'

Ethan Hawke

describing girlfriend and co-star Uma Thurman